5 Fugitives Who Were Captured in Exceptional Circumstances

No one likes to be imprisoned, and criminals least of all. There are countless cases when they escaped or evaded the authorities before even being caught. Either by luck or by hard work the best of the best managed to stay at large for long periods of time. However, there are fugitives who were captured in exceptional circumstances, either by making errors or by certain situations that favored the police. From using social media to being exposed by animals, here is our top of such fugitives.

1. Vincens Vuktilaj

The first on our list of fugitives who were captured in exceptional circumstances is an 18 year old who had the unfortunate idea of stealing the necklaces of two women. He evaded prison by making bail, after which he threw a party for his birthday. The next day, he was arrested once more. Despite being handcuffed and missing his shoes, Vuktilaj managed to shove the detectives away and escape into the tunnels of the subway. As a result, all services lines in Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn were stopped as the police searched for Vuktilaj. The whole chase lasted for five hours, and the boy was finally caught after the police blocked all exits.

2. Ethan Couch

Ethan Couch was the one who killed four people while driving under the influence of alcohol back in 2013. The case was quite controversial because he evaded being imprisoned by making use of the “affluenza defense”, which basically meant that he couldn’t discern between wrong and right. Instead, he was given probation during which he was forbidden from drinking alcohol. However, Couch was spotted in a recent video while attending a party where alcohol was served. As a result, he and his mother fled the country. A couple of days later, they made the mistake of ordering a pizza from Domino’s and thus were discovered by authorities in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Couch is at the moment at a deportation facility while his mother faces from two to ten years in prison.

3. Dominic Reddick

There are several fugitives who were captured in exceptional circumstances, but none resisted more than Dominic Reddick. Reddick was accused of killing a police officer in 2003 in Orlando. He fled from the authorities, which led to a huge manhunt that went on for months. Reddick’s plan was to flee to Cayman Islands where his family was. After escaping from a prison transfer he went to Georgia and payed someone $1,000 to bring him to Savannah. However, because he hid in forests and swamps he also developed a very frail condition. He was found searching for donuts in a garbage bin of a convenience store, which was used by the police as a sort of command post.

4. Eduardo Rodriguez

Eduardo Rodriguez was a gang leader in Los Angeles when he was first added to the list of most wanted criminals. After four killings and two murder attempts, he took the life of a woman in 2001. Two years later, the police linked him to the case. Knowing that the authorities were looking for him, Rodriguez fled. And no one found him until 2015. It was believed he was hiding in Mexico, until a detective saw a picture of him on the Facebook page of a gang associate. The police found out with surprise that Rodriguez had been hiding right under their noses, near Glendale, California. The man managed to create and keep a secret identity, as all his neighbors were astonished at the discovery.

5. Joseph Kimsey

Joseph Kimsey, one of the fugitives who were captured in exceptional circumstances, was caught by a goat. Kimsey started out as a soldier and ended abusing animals. Ironically, he ended up in the El Paso County and hid in some bushes near the home of the Browning family. The family knew that there was a fugitive in the area, and decided to lock all doors. However, their goat kept staring at the bushes where Kimsey was hiding. John Browning saw him and alerted the police who were finally able to catch him.

About Fred Mitchell

I like midnight surfing and going for jogs at sunrise with my my golden retriever, Charlie. When I'm not studying Russian literature or reading Dostoievski, you can find me playing video games like Witcher 3 or Battlefield Hardline, or hanging out in Starbucks sipping an Americano. I never leave the house without my phone and saying I am a social media addict would definitely not be an understatement.